Having identified the families needing relief and their immediate requirements, it was now Charkha’s role at the Delhi office to set the ball rolling. Sanjay Mishra, Manager Administration made a flying visit to Kashmir and along with Hamraz visited the areas in Kupwara and Budgam identified by the team for relief distribution. Quantities of items were checked and suppliers from Srinagar firmed up. Setting up this process was important to ensure that the Relief work runs smooth, effective and fast . It was equally necessary to maintain a record of the distribution and the receipts of the items by the identified families for the purpose of accountability . Identification cards had been given to families whose members had to acknowledge the receipt of the Relief Kit by signature or thumb impression. The actual distribution of Relief began after Sanjay returned to Delhi.

Charkha office in Delhi was kept constantly informed of the needs and pulled together a group of friends, supporters and donors for generating resources. The money collected at Charkha was given a separate name for the fund “ Kashmir Relief Project”. This was then electronically transferred through Jammu and Kashmir Bank from Delhi to Srinagar. In a gesture of solidarity, the J&K branch office in Delhi waived the transfer charges for this transaction.

Returning home with essential supplies-villagers at Kupwara

Returning home with essential supplies-villagers at Kupwara

At Kashmir, the Relief was conducted in three phases in Kupwara in village Dragad. Trucks carrying items were organised from Srinagar to reach Chamkot after which the material had to be loaded on tractors and on horseback all which was organized by the locals. Dragad lies in the interiors which could be the reason, it was cut off in the initial days after the earthquake from the official machinery of relief measures. At Dragad, Hamraz and his team distributed the Relief Kit to the identified families.

Relief operations in the Budgam district was carried out in two phases Working against the onset of winters, the entire relief operations beginning in October was successfully completed in the last week of December 2005, soon after which heavy snowfall blocked all the routes to the identified villages.